


Whiskey Time Machine

by pleasanthell



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2013-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-04 12:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1081017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Myka wasn’t much of a drinker. She drank wine occasionally and was known to throw back a few beers with Steve while Claudia played a set in a bar, but she didn’t drink in excess. Not usually.</p><p>But tonight she was. She had an entire bottle of whiskey and was sitting in the HG Wells sector. Most days she was okay. She was happy with her job and with her friends. But days like today, she dwelled on missed opportunities. She cursed her logical mind and her timid heart. Actually she just wallowed in one missed opportunity. One brilliant, beautiful British inventor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whiskey Time Machine

Myka wasn’t much of a drinker. She drank wine occasionally and was known to throw back a few beers with Steve while Claudia played a set in a bar, but she didn’t drink in excess. Not usually.

But tonight she was. She had an entire bottle of whiskey and was sitting in the HG Wells sector. Most days she was okay. She was happy with her job and with her friends. But days like today, she dwelled on missed opportunities. She cursed her logical mind and her timid heart. Days like today, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing inside of her. She hadn’t cried. She wasn’t going to let herself. It was her own fault. She didn’t say what her heart was begging her to say when she had the chance.

So she sat in the HG Wells sector with a bottle of whiskey and drank. She hated the burn in her throat and the wicked taste, but she was so beyond caring at the moment. She took out her phone and went through her contacts. She had HG’s phone number. She could call her and something deep inside of Myka knew that if she asked, HG would come running back to the Warehouse.

But she didn’t think she should do that to HG. She had been trying to break away from the Warehouse in various ways for over a hundred years. She had finally done it. She had moved on and Myka wasn’t going to drag her back because she wanted to…confess her deepest feelings. If only she could go back in time to…

Myka whipped her head around. She actually could.

It was a good thing that it was three in the morning because the warehouse still strained under the power drain of the time machine just idling. Myka knew enough about the machine to get it running, but didn’t know enough about the warehouse to sustain the machine. She did some quick calculations and found that she could travel back in time for only eight minutes before the Warehouse shut down and she was stuck in oblivion forever.

Myka thought it over again, though not too clearly, and finished off the bottle of whiskey. She set the date and the time. She pulled the level and jumped into the chair.

She felt a familiar shock when she appeared in the new body. Myka looked at her hands and discovered that they were that of a man’s. She was in a strikingly familiar kitchen and felt herself almost gag. She was Nate. She had miscalculated. Myka blinked and tried to get her bearings. She picked up the phone on the counter and saw the date and time.

Her new body was not as inebriated as her old one so she managed to figure out that this was the day that Adelaide was taken. She- Nate must have been waiting for them, HG and Pete and real Myka, to get her back. She saw the tumbler of liquor on the counter. She could feel how tense his muscles were. She flexed and looked around the room. This was stupid. This was her one chance to set things right and she couldn’t even get to HG in time, much less tell her everything she needed to. And Myka felt especially guilty coming back in Nate’s body to confess her love for the British author.

Myka hung her head and took a deep breath. She had to tell HG somehow. But it couldn’t be obvious. She couldn’t spray paint it on the wall. She couldn’t tattoo it on Nate’s arm.

Myka quickly looked around, realizing that she had already wasted two minutes staring at the counter in Nate’s body. She scanned the flat surfaces for something to write on. She was out of luck trying to find something to write on, but she saw a pen on the coffee table and ran to grab it. Once it was in her hand she had to think of a way to get it to HG, but not somewhere Nate would know about it. Hopefully not somewhere HG would look immediately. It had to be somewhere only HG would turn to.

Then Myka moved to the bookshelf. Myka ran her fingers over the covers loving now, more than ever, that she and HG had spent hours upon hours talking about books. Finally Myka grabbed the most appropriate book that she could think of. The cracked open the front cover of The Time Machine and started saying everything she needed to.

Myka checked her watch when she felt like she was close to finishing, but found she was out of time. She only had seconds to get the book back where it came from. She closed the book and shoved it back into the bookshelf before running back into the kitchen.

Myka saw flashes of light and then woke up in the time machine. Myka took a deep breath, her body heavy with liquor again. She moved slowly up from the machine and then she unplugged the machine. She covered it with the sheet that had been over it for over a year and then picked up her empty bottle. She swallowed and ran her hand over the controls of the machine one last time. She hoped what she did had worked.

Of course, HG could have already read the note by then. She could have read it and discarded it. Or thought the words kind, but not enough to leave her happy life.

Myka took a deep breath, trying to quell her tears. She wasn’t going to cry. Suddenly, she wished she had another bottle of whiskey. She wondered if Earnest Hemmingway’s flask would inebriate her for a few hours.

However when she turned around, the person standing in the aisle scared her. She reached for a tesla that wasn’t on her belt then then breathed out a sigh of relief that it was only Claudia.

“What are you doing here?” Claudia asked, taking in Myka’s disheveled hair, partially tucked in shirt, and wavering stance.

Myka shrugged, “Just checking on some stuff. What are you doing here?” Myka didn’t sound as official as she hoped.

“I’m the caretaker. I know all,” Claudia looked around, “Something is up.” Then she reached into her pocket, “Plus I also have this,” she pulled out a small device that looked like a tiny, flat seismograph, “It’s an alarm that goes off if there are any major power surges or drains on the Warehouse.”

“I didn’t-,” Myka stumbled over her words as tears threatened her again. “I didn’t notice anything.” Myka’s knees waivered before they gave out and she collapsed into sobs. Claudia ran to her and knelt down next to her.

Myka immediately tried to gain control of herself and asked Claudia, “Please don’t tell Artie or Pete.” She sniffled and let out another gut-wrenching sob, “They’d be so disappointed.”

“I won’t,” Claudia swore, “Don’t worry.”

Myka managed to stand on her own a few minutes later, wiping her face and trying to act like nothing happened. Claudia silently walked next to Myka as they made their way to the office and out the umbilicus to the cars outside. Claudia opened the passenger’s door to her car and Myka got in without protest.

She just felt so defeated. It had been almost a year since she left that note, although she actually just did it half an hour ago. But HG had had a year to do something about it and she hadn’t. That was probably the most sobering blow of them all.

Claudia got into the driver’s seat and started the car. She put her hand on the gear shifter and then stopped. She didn’t look at Myka when she asked, “Did it work?”

Myka stared at the floorboard as she shook her head, “No.”

Claudia opened her mouth to say something, but knew that nothing would comfort Myka right now. She just needed to get Myka into bed and they could deal with any consequences in the morning.

She got Myka to leave the whiskey bottle in her car. She would take care of it later. Then Claudia became Myka’s crutch as they stumbled through the house.

Claudia’s stomach sank when she thought that if Leena were still alive, she’d be downstairs with tea or something already. She would have heard Claudia get up for the alarm. Claudia exhaled and helped Myka up the stairs. No one else was awake in the house and it would stay that way until morning.

Claudia sat Myka on her bed and Myka waved her off. Myka sat on the edge of her bed and looked at the ground, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Claudia glanced down the hallway at the door belonging to her best friend. “We all do crazy things for the people we love.”

Myka didn’t say anything and neither did Claudia. Claudia just closed the door to Myka’s room and retreated to her own room.

After she had cried in the shower to muffle the sound and get rid of the tears, Myka got into bed. She was out of tears. She was out of feelings. She just laid in her bed emotionless. Of course the reprieve didn’t last long. She saw one of HG’s books on her nightstand. _The First Men On The Moon_ was sitting there in all its first edition glory. Myka reached over and ran her fingers over the spine of the book. It used to bring her so much joy and so much peace. Now it just hurt her heart.

Myka shoved the book off of the nightstand and rolled over. She couldn’t handle it. Not tonight. Maybe not ever again now that she had laid all of her cards on the table and HG had chosen Nate over her.

The next morning, Myka was extraordinarily hung over and managed to convince Pete and Artie that it was a stomach bug. Claudia knew better and Steve suspected, but didn’t say anything because of some silent communication with Claudia. Myka went back to bed while Pete went into town to see if his latest comic book shipment had come in and Artie went to the Warehouse. Steve and Claudia hung around the B&B because there wasn’t anything else to do.

The day after that they got a ping and Myka went with Pete to Maine. They easily snagged an artifact and came back. Pete wondered what was wrong with Myka, but knew better than to ask. He finally got her to smile on the way back to Univille. That was when she decided that she had done all she could and she was going to move on as well.

For the next few days, Myka eased herself back into having actual feelings instead of shutting down, until finally she was sure she was really happy. She had her friends and that was all she needed. Exactly a week after she made her drunken time travel trip, she picked up _The First Men On The Moon_ and put it in her bookshelf in the HG section. It was funny how her personally library had an HG Wells section. Myka lovingly ran her fingers over every single title remembering her talks with HG about how she came upon her ideas and how she coached her brother into writing them. That was how she chose to remember Helena. As a brilliant woman. As a forward thinker. As a genius inventor. As the woman Myka loved…still loves.

Myka went to bed that night, finally at peace with the fact that Helena would probably never be in her life ever again.

Steve had gone into town early in the morning and returned with pastries before everyone woke up. When they did, everyone was excited about the food. Myka started the kettle and glanced out the glass doors to the patio where everyone was sitting. Pete was telling some kind of story and Claudia and Steve were laughing. Artie was trying not to smile. Myka smiled to herself. She loved her warehouse family. When she made it out to the porch with tea and coffee, most of the pastries were gone, but Pete had saved her a croissant. Myka smiled and took a bite of the end of it as Artie started going over the latest ping.

However as he handed Myka a red folder, the roar of an engine coming toward the B&B got everyone’s attention. Everyone’s hands went to their weapons as a little red car fishtailed as it turned into the B&B driveway. The car didn’t stop though. It roared past them toward the Warehouse. They all took off running toward their cars so that they could follow them, when the red car came roaring back toward them, drifting a little as the driver’s swerve and the car stopped just behind Claudia’s.

When the red door flew open, Myka felt her heart sink. Helena stood out of the car and looked angry. When the car door slammed, she saw the book she had written in, in Helena’s hand.

“How dare you write something like this,” Helena pointed to Myka and started marching toward Myka. “I was happy. I was living the life that I should have wanted all along. I could have done it too. I could have faked it for the rest of my life. I could have swallowed my feeling for you and carried on with my life! I could have done the stupid suburban life or the American dream, whatever you call it. I could have made it work!” She raised the book, presenting it to Myka.

Myka’s mouth was dry. The words that Helena was yelling at her weren’t really sinking in. It took her a moment to realize that Helena was mad at her. Then she understood what Helena was saying. Myka tried to explain, “I don’t- uh – I can’t- I- you-”

Helena’s voice lowered and she rolled her eyes, “I’m not good at being mad at you. Especially when you have that look on your face.” Finally a grin broke out on Myka’s face. Helena rolled her eyes again. She did crack a smile though. Helena waved at Myka’s face, “Don’t give me that.” Myka just kept on smiling.

Helena looked down at the book in her hands that contained the message the shattered any illusion she had of having a normal life. She picked at the spine and said, “I read it a month ago. I can’t stop thinking about it.” Helena looked shyly up at Myka, “Did you really write it?”

Myka’s smile faded a little and she nodded. “It was – I shouldn’t ha-” Myka swallowed and looked over at Artie who was watching with a curious eye. She swallowed and looked down.

“Do you mean it?” Helena asked, her voice shaking with insecurity. “What you said?”

“All of it,” Myka stated firmly, although she was a little fuzzy about what it said.

Helena took a deep breath and patted the book against her open palm. Then she tossed the book onto the hood to Steve’s car and swept Myka up in a kiss. After her initial shock, the hands that Myka placed on Helena’s shoulders to push her away, pulled her closer. She slid her arms around Helena’s back and held her there, savoring the kiss.

The both inhaled at the same time before breaking away. Helena’s hands were on Myka’s cheeks and she ran her thumb over Myka’s lips. “I don’t believe I can live without you after that kiss.”

“Then don’t,” Myka grinned and pulled Helena back in for another kiss.

 


End file.
